Anonymous
Post 04/04/2023 08:05     Subject: WashU, Vanderbilt, or Northwestern?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:DS is interested in economics and CS, these are his options. Money isn’t a problem, any thoughts?


If your kid got into all three schools, what a wonderful problem to have. They're all good. But the best fit is going to depend on your kid.

WashU is kind of like a country club for smart kids. Lovely campus overlooking a great park. Nice neighborhood. Don't remember the name of the main street, but it's totally interesting for college kids, And WashU is good for business/finance kids. Don't know about CS. But the school's downside is the same as its upside. It's a country club college for smart, generally well to do kids. If that's what fits, roll with it. There's a good education there. But if that doesn't fit, don't bother. Square. Circle.

Northwestern. Goodness, that brings out the Fox News people. Chicago is the best city in America. Fight me, Used to live there. But Northwestern isn't in Chicago. You can see it in the distance, over the lake, which is very nice. Evanston is kind of sort of like Bethesda but better-ish. More character. But still eh. Northwestern is the school we all wished we went to in 1992. Second City. Medill back when journalism still mattered. Fun school for smart kids. Visited three or so years ago with a kid. Pre-covid. So cold. The general environment. My soul withered. Sure, everyone is smart. Every program is good. Top ten-ish in everything. But goodness the kids did not seem particularly gleeful. When the University of Chicago seems like the happy school there might be issues. Also, don't know anything about CS.



Vanderbilt. F-yeah. Didn't know anything about this school. Wasn't a thing when I was a kid. Struck by a few things. One was the general sense of professionalism. You'd think that would be normal for the higher ranked schools. but it really isn't. Vandy was solid about everything. From the speakers to the guides to the classrooms to the labs to the dorms to the greenery. You get the sense Vandy has thought everything through and the students are going to have a good education and a good experience. And that's proven to be the case, including during the suck of Covid. DC is a junior now but even as a freshman he had former presidents as guest lecturers. It's been a cool experience. Nashville can be little gritty - zoning is clearly not a priority for the city council - but it's definitely a fun city for college kids. Economics for sure is going to be very good at Vanderbilt. Again, not sure about CS. I do know recruitment is generally very good at Vanderbilt.

So my two cents is to visit all three schools if you can. Very distinct vibes.


Chicago is the BEST city? And you USED to live there? That says it all.
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2023 08:00     Subject: WashU, Vanderbilt, or Northwestern?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:WashU for a student not completely clear on what they want to major/minor in or want the flexibility to change their minds while in college. NW and Vandy don't have as much flexibility.


The above quoted post is incorrect.

Northwestern allows any student to change schools (except for Bienen School of Music as auditions are required) if they want. Easy to triple major at Northwestern.

OP: Three outstanding choices. While Northwestern is the most prestigious, all 3 are highly respected and can get you where you want to go in the real world.

Students love all three schools, so visit each school and go with the one where you feel most comfortable.

Northwestern does have the best economics dept. among the three schools, but it is also probably the most competitive.

If I had to rate the choices: 1) Northwestern 2) is a tie between Vanderbilt & WUSTL.


Actually, it IS correct. While Northwestern may have some flexibility, Wustl is well known for is flexibility to the point where it is easy to transfer from say a history major to an engineering or comp sci major which is typically very difficult to do and for those majors you often have to apply directly to those schools
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2023 07:33     Subject: Re:WashU, Vanderbilt, or Northwestern?
Anonymous wrote:northwestern by a mile

Nope.
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2023 07:18     Subject: WashU, Vanderbilt, or Northwestern?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Poets&Quants' Top Ten B-Schools of 2023:

https://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/rankings/poetsquants-best-undergraduate-business-schools-of-2023/


Why would the ranking of undergraduate school rankings be important when OP's kid doesn't want to study business, and at least one school on the list (NU) doesn't have an undergraduate business school?


Vandy doesn’t have an undergrad school of business


They have an equivalent they just call it something else.
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2023 07:15     Subject: WashU, Vanderbilt, or Northwestern?
Anonymous wrote:WashU for a student not completely clear on what they want to major/minor in or want the flexibility to change their minds while in college. NW and Vandy don't have as much flexibility.

Vandy completely flexible for changing majors - happened to DC this year. They were amazing.
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2023 06:00     Subject: WashU, Vanderbilt, or Northwestern?
I don’t believe that OPs kid was admitted RD to all 3 schools. No chance.

They’re trying to decide where to ED in the future
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2023 05:55     Subject: WashU, Vanderbilt, or Northwestern?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Poets&Quants' Top Ten B-Schools of 2023:

https://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/rankings/poetsquants-best-undergraduate-business-schools-of-2023/


Why would the ranking of undergraduate school rankings be important when OP's kid doesn't want to study business, and at least one school on the list (NU) doesn't have an undergraduate business school?


Vandy doesn’t have an undergrad school of business
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2023 03:55     Subject: WashU, Vanderbilt, or Northwestern?
Anonymous wrote:DS is interested in economics and CS, these are his options. Money isn’t a problem, any thoughts?


If your kid got into all three schools, what a wonderful problem to have. They're all good. But the best fit is going to depend on your kid.

WashU is kind of like a country club for smart kids. Lovely campus overlooking a great park. Nice neighborhood. Don't remember the name of the main street, but it's totally interesting for college kids, And WashU is good for business/finance kids. Don't know about CS. But the school's downside is the same as its upside. It's a country club college for smart, generally well to do kids. If that's what fits, roll with it. There's a good education there. But if that doesn't fit, don't bother. Square. Circle.

Northwestern. Goodness, that brings out the Fox News people. Chicago is the best city in America. Fight me, Used to live there. But Northwestern isn't in Chicago. You can see it in the distance, over the lake, which is very nice. Evanston is kind of sort of like Bethesda but better-ish. More character. But still eh. Northwestern is the school we all wished we went to in 1992. Second City. Medill back when journalism still mattered. Fun school for smart kids. Visited three or so years ago with a kid. Pre-covid. So cold. The general environment. My soul withered. Sure, everyone is smart. Every program is good. Top ten-ish in everything. But goodness the kids did not seem particularly gleeful. When the University of Chicago seems like the happy school there might be issues. Also, don't know anything about CS.

Vanderbilt. F-yeah. Didn't know anything about this school. Wasn't a thing when I was a kid. Struck by a few things. One was the general sense of professionalism. You'd think that would be normal for the higher ranked schools. but it really isn't. Vandy was solid about everything. From the speakers to the guides to the classrooms to the labs to the dorms to the greenery. You get the sense Vandy has thought everything through and the students are going to have a good education and a good experience. And that's proven to be the case, including during the suck of Covid. DC is a junior now but even as a freshman he had former presidents as guest lecturers. It's been a cool experience. Nashville can be little gritty - zoning is clearly not a priority for the city council - but it's definitely a fun city for college kids. Economics for sure is going to be very good at Vanderbilt. Again, not sure about CS. I do know recruitment is generally very good at Vanderbilt.

So my two cents is to visit all three schools if you can. Very distinct vibes.
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2023 01:40     Subject: Re:WashU, Vanderbilt, or Northwestern?
Anonymous wrote:northwestern by a mile


+1000
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2023 01:39     Subject: Re:WashU, Vanderbilt, or Northwestern?
Anonymous wrote:Vanderbilt > WasU >= Northwestern. IIRC NW is more of a humanities school


This is incorrect.

Northwestern's campus id divided informally in to North campus & South campus. North campus is overwhelmingly STEM. South campus is primarily humanities and liberal arts (which includes science & math).

In reality, Northwestern is more STEM than humanities.
Anonymous
Post 04/04/2023 01:35     Subject: WashU, Vanderbilt, or Northwestern?
Anonymous wrote:WashU for a student not completely clear on what they want to major/minor in or want the flexibility to change their minds while in college. NW and Vandy don't have as much flexibility.


The above quoted post is incorrect.

Northwestern allows any student to change schools (except for Bienen School of Music as auditions are required) if they want. Easy to triple major at Northwestern.

OP: Three outstanding choices. While Northwestern is the most prestigious, all 3 are highly respected and can get you where you want to go in the real world.

Students love all three schools, so visit each school and go with the one where you feel most comfortable.

Northwestern does have the best economics dept. among the three schools, but it is also probably the most competitive.

If I had to rate the choices: 1) Northwestern 2) is a tie between Vanderbilt & WUSTL.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2023 22:53     Subject: WashU, Vanderbilt, or Northwestern?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Choose bet Vandy and Wustl. Throw out NW - competitive environment, cold, not-so-good neighborhood (Evanston), and frankly its econ dept is a bit overshadowed by UChicago


This is so funny to me as someone who has lived in Chicago. The North Shore (made up of like 6-7 suburbs, one of which is Evanston) is one of the richest areas in the entire country. Saw more old money there than Potomac!


Maybe 10 years ago perhaps, but not according to recent crime statistics.

Evanston is nicer now than it was 20 years ago. Chicago is another story.


Perhaps, but still not so nice
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2023 22:51     Subject: WashU, Vanderbilt, or Northwestern?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Choose bet Vandy and Wustl. Throw out NW - competitive environment, cold, not-so-good neighborhood (Evanston), and frankly its econ dept is a bit overshadowed by UChicago


This is so funny to me as someone who has lived in Chicago. The North Shore (made up of like 6-7 suburbs, one of which is Evanston) is one of the richest areas in the entire country. Saw more old money there than Potomac!


Maybe 10 years ago perhaps, but not according to recent crime statistics.

Evanston is nicer now than it was 20 years ago. Chicago is another story.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2023 22:38     Subject: WashU, Vanderbilt, or Northwestern?
Visit and pick that school your DC likes the most. WashU dies make it easy to take classes in different schools and change majors. It’s also a beautiful campus. But they are all good schools. Nice to have good choices.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2023 22:35     Subject: WashU, Vanderbilt, or Northwestern?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Choose bet Vandy and Wustl. Throw out NW - competitive environment, cold, not-so-good neighborhood (Evanston), and frankly its econ dept is a bit overshadowed by UChicago


This is so funny to me as someone who has lived in Chicago. The North Shore (made up of like 6-7 suburbs, one of which is Evanston) is one of the richest areas in the entire country. Saw more old money there than Potomac!


Are you confusing Hyde Park (UChicago) with Evanston?